Aleutian Sanctuary Proposal Stalls Out. The federal government has turned down a request to create a vast marine reserve around the Aleutian Islands. On Friday, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced that the Aleutians won't advance in the process to become a national marine sanctuary - mostly due to a lack of local support. Alaska Public Radio

Arctic Ocean May Be Next as Alaska Officials Seethe Over ANWR Move. Emotions continued to rise on Monday over President Barack Obama's initiative to increase protection for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, with Rep. Don Young calling the president a "wacko," the North Slope Borough saying Obama was acting by "executive fiat," and Sen. Lisa Murkowski saying the Alaska delegation would use all means to stop the move. Not everyone is angry. Conservationists in Alaska and outside the state praised Obama, saying that while his recommendation currently has no practical change on refuge management, the action replaces Reagan-era policy and will send an enduring signal of the administration's commitment to protecting wilderness. Alaska Dispatch News

Bowhead Whale Songs Are Complex and Copied, New Study Shows. Inuit legend says Sedna, the beautiful but tragic goddess of the ocean, sings underwater to give detailed instructions to the whales and other sea animals. Now scientists have new information about the level of detail in the songs that bowhead whales sing to one another when they are migrating into the Beaufort Sea each spring. The findings, from sound recordings made in the spring of 2011 by a consortium of scientists from several institutions, are described in a detailed study published online Dec. 30 in the journal Marine Mammal Science. Alaska Dispatch News

Copenhagen Rejects Faroese Sea Shepherd Ban. The Faroe Islands wants to stop environmentalists from entering their country if they plan to break a law. Immigration officials in Denmark say such a move is likely illegal. A plan by the Faroe Islands to block anti-whaling activists from entering the country appears to have stranded after the Danish government refused the make the required changes to immigration law. The decision comes after 29 of the 33 members of the L�gting, the national assembly, in December expressed their support for measures to bar activists from entering the country if they had announced an intention to do something illegal while there. Arctic Journal

Coast Guard Maps Out Marine Traffic Lanes to the Arctic. Anticipating increased traffic through the Bering Strait as retreating sea ice opens up Arctic Ocean to more vessels, the U.S. Coast Guard is accepting public comments on proposed vessel routes off northwestern Alaska. "We get about 400 transits up through that part, a year. Generally, that's about 200 vessels since some of those are repeat customers," says Rear Adm. Daniel Abel, commander of the U.S. Coast Guard's 17th District. KTOO

Researchers Study Arctic Nesting Sites of Atlantic Brant Geese. Last summer, University of Delaware graduate student Clark Nissley and a team of three researchers studied the Atlantic brant goose in an area of the Arctic so remote that the only way to reach their camp was to fly in on a De Havilland Canada Twin Otter bush plane that had skis affixed to the bottom so that it could land on a sea ice runway. Nissley and his team braved the Arctic's freezing temperatures on Southampton Island in Canada's north Hudson Bay to gain a better understanding of several factors that could have an impact on the declining population of the Atlantic brant, including where they nest for the summer and whether other geese species, whose populations are increasing, could be negatively impacting the brants' nesting success. Phys.org

Canada Kicks Off Arctic Patrol Ship Program. Canada is finally moving ahead on building a fleet of Arctic patrol ships to provide a naval presence in the resource-rich north. But the CAN $3.5 billion project (US $3.2 billion), helmed by Irving Shipbuilding of Halifax with Lockheed Martin handling onboard combat systems, will produce only five ships with limited military capabilities, defense analysts and politicians warn. The cost of the project to build the Arctic offshore patrol ships has also increased from $3.1 billion to $3.5 billion, government officials confirmed on Jan. 16. Defense News